Asix controller provides Ethernet connectivity

Asix Electronics has released the AX88796C, an SPI or non-PCI Ethernet controller with low-power, low pin count and variable voltage I/O for Embedded and Industrial Ethernet applications.

Using AX88796C with a microcontroller, designers can provide Ethernet connectivity to the embedded systems to distribute data and control it remotely over the network.

Recent innovations in multimedia SoCs (System-on-Chip) have been based on decreasing the physical form factor to reduce costs.

The most efficient method of miniaturisation is to decrease the pin count and utilise the serial interfaces such as SPI, allowing the use of SPI flash, in favour of a parallel local/memory bus.

Asix has released the AX88796C to satisfy increasing market demands for adding networking capability for the latest multimedia SoCs.

The AX88796C employs the industry-standard SPI serial interface, which only requires four lines to interface to a host microcontroller.

In addition, the AX88796C supports an alternative 8/16-bit SRAM-like or Address-Data Multiplex host interface with variable voltage I/O, providing a glue-less connection to common or high-end MCUs.

The AX88796C integrates on-chip Fast Ethernet MAC and PHY, which is IEEE 802.3/802.3u 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX compatible, and 14KB embedded SRAM for packet buffering to accommodate high-bandwidth applications.

The AX88796C supports advanced low-power features including dynamic power management and very low power Wake-on-LAN (WOL) mode.

The AX88796C offers a wide array of features including support for high-performance data transfer on the host interface, IPv4/IPv6 checksum offload engine, HP Auto-MDIX, plus IEEE 802.3x and back-pressure flow control.

It supports two operating temperature ranges: commercial grade from 0C to 70C and industrial grade from -40C to 85C.

Its small form factor 64-pin LQFP package helps reduce overall PCB space.

The programming of AX88796C is claimed to be simple, so users can port the software drivers to many embedded systems very quickly.

The AX88796C is targeted for networked home appliances, building/home automation, industrial control, security systems and remote control/management applications such as POS, RFID reader, multi-functional printer, IP Camera, VoIP, IP STB, digital video recorder, DVD recorder/player, digital media adapter and IPTV.

To help customers evaluate and develop applications with the AX88796C, Asix provides technical support including hardware and software application notes, user guides, schematics, PCB layout guides, plus drivers for Windows, Linux, WinCE, Nucleus and VXworks operating systems.

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